Chess Life 2004. (nem teljes évfolyam)/Chess Life Winter 2004. [antikvár]

!!Bi US Open: Shabalov Triumphs Again! 1 ^ bv km I All hail the conquering hero, Alex Shabalov! The Pittsburgh Pounder is now on a remarkable run. When we interviewed him for the September issue after he won the Chicago Open clear, we issued a kind of challenge, calling the US Championship, Chicago Open, World Open, and US Open the "Quadruple Slam." Shabalov almost did it. Only his tie for first in the World Open and subsequent lower placement on tiebreaks kept him from sweeping the four most lucrative and prestigious tournaments in the US. Perhaps a new nickname is in order. Instead of the Pittsburgh Pounder, how about the Latvian Lacerator? Oh well, the real point is that Shabalov is playing the best chess of any grandmaster in the US, and his triumph at the 104th US Open, held at the LAX Radisson in Los Angeles August 3-15, was well deserved and highly efficient. (And since the 2004 Championship will not be held until October, Alex will enjoy at least a year's worth of holding both titles, probably a record.) As the co-organizer, 1 had made a special point of inviting Alex, the current US champion, and Larry Christiansen, last year's champ. The $8,000 first prize did not go unnoticed in the grandmaster community—no less than 17 GMs turned out, including Dashzavag Sharavdorj from Mongolia! The 104th US Open was the first since 1997 to offer 12 rounds, which had been the standard until recently. The fact that vacations are getting shorter and people are willing to spend less money at a long hotel stay had convinced many that the 12-round Open was as dead as the proverbial dodo. Well, 1 can't say that we proved anything, but we did draw 454 players and turned a modest profit for the Federation and its co-sponsor, the Southern California Chess Federation. Shabalov and Christiansen agreed to play in the most sensible schedule available, ü you don't like 13 days. They played the 8-day, 12-round schedule. which includes eight rounds at the 40/2 time limit but with two rounds a day. In retrospect, 1 am convinced that we made a strategic error in not promoting this particular schedule hard and consistently. After all, if people are willing to play nine games in nine days (the case at the last five Opens), why should they object to 12 games in eight days? However, since there also was a six-day schedule which consisted of seven games at G/60 (a fast time control which cannot be tolerated by some traditional US Open players), and we also had the busy-person's special (play the last six rounds with a weighted score for the first six), and even a matinee schedule where one could play in the afternoon for the first six rounds, the eight-day schedule did not stand out. About 230 people turned out for one round a day, and these were people who were clearly grateful for the fact that we had been able to give them the opportunity to play a traditional US Open schedule. However, that was not enough to make the tournament a success, and we were well aware of that. Playing in the traditional schedule, which started on Sunday afternoon, with a day off the next Saturday, was Gregory Kaidanov (along with GMs Edhi Handoko of Indonesia and Arthur Bisguier). Kaidanov won his first six games and led when the evening and matinee schedules merged in Round 7. A peculiarity had developed after we invited the two champions. The Continental Championship was scheduled to start in Argentina two days after the end of the US Open. The organizers made the decision that, even though 11th- and 12th-round byes were prohibited, a last-round exception would be made for any GM who wanted to play in the Continental, which leads to the lucrative world championship sponsored by FIDE. Kaidanov took advantage of this and opted for a half-point last-round bye. When I mentioned this to Shabalov on the phone as we Ironed out the details of by jerry Hanken his participation, he immediately rejected the idea. He said, somewhat prophetically, "That could cost me the tournament!" And, since Kaidanov finished a half-point behind at while 10 earned Shabalov clear first, it turned out to be quite true. (This is not to criticize Kaidanov, who played fine chess throughout and made a decision based upon his hopes of qualifying for the world championship cycle.) When I mentioned the number of GMs, I should have added that this was the second strongest US Open in history in this respect. The 1991 Open in Los Angeles had 20, something of an aberration since the concurrent US Championship was being held as a knockout, and as GMs were eliminated, many played in the Open. Shabalov paced himself well. He made draws with GM lldar Ibragimov in Round 4, IM Varuzhan Akobian in the fifth round, Levon Altounian (who apparently made his final IM norm here) in Round 7, and GM Jaan Ehlvest in Round 9. In Round 10 Alex defeated IM Jayson Gonzalez, which set him up for his last two victories and his clear win with 10 of 12. In Round 11 Shabalov was paired with veteran IM Anthony Saidy, who was playing on his home ground, Los Angeles. Here is the game with the final position diagrammed, a very nice miniature: RUY LOPEZ IC731 W: GM Alexander Shabalov B: IM Anthony Saidy US Open, (10. 8/14/03 1 e4 e5 2 NfS Nc6 3 Bb5 a6 4 Ba4 d6 5 Bxc6+ bxc6 6 d4 exd4 7 Qxd4 Bg4 8 Nc3 Ne7 9 Bg5 Qd7 10 Bxe7 Qxe7 11 0-0-0 Bxf3 12 gxf3 Qg5+ 13 Kbl Be7 14 IM Anthony Saidy: Six decades of toumament play. www.uschess.org January 2004-Chess Life I I